Srđan Marjanović, the former assistant to Vule Trivunović in the coaching staff of Rudar Prijedor, has taken over Sloboda from Mrkonjić Grad. Marjanović told “Glas Srpske” that he is not afraid of the challenge and is ready to tackle the upcoming season’s challenges head-on.
This 46-year-old coach, who has spent his entire sports career at Rudar Prijedor as both a player and a coach, left after yesterday’s morning training session with the “miners” in Zlatibor for Republika Srpska. Today, at 6 PM, he will conduct his first training session at the “Luke” stadium in Mrkonjić Grad with Sloboda’s footballers.
“Although I’ve spent my entire career at Rudar Prijedor and this will practically be my first job outside my city, I expect to meet the expectations of Sloboda’s management and achieve our set goal, which is to stay in the league,” Marjanović said.
He emphasized that the agreement with Mrkonjićani was reached very quickly.
“The negotiations were more than fair, they presented their conditions, I presented mine, and we agreed to mutual satisfaction. My primary goal is to maintain Sloboda’s first-league status,” Marjanović continued.
He is aware that this will not be an easy task, as it is known that at the end of the next first-league season, starting on August 10, the elite of Republika Srpska will be reduced from 18 to 14 clubs. Additionally, the Premier League will reduce from 12 to 10 clubs, which could significantly affect the struggle for survival among the first-league teams.
“The number of first-league teams that will have to move to a lower rank at the end of the championship will range from five to seven, which will undoubtedly be an additional challenge for all first-league teams. Therefore, every match will be crucial, as well as every point earned. A somewhat challenging circumstance for Sloboda will be the fact that we are starting preparations quite late. However, it is good that many local players, who have formed the core of the team in previous years, will be present at the first training session. In the coming days, I expect a few reinforcements to join us, some of whom we have already reached agreements with. I believe that by the end of the season, we will all be celebrating our survival in the first-league,” added Marjanović.
UEFA PRO License
At the beginning of April last year, Srđan Marjanović “cashed in” on his years of coaching education and became the holder of the UEFA PRO license. Among the many generations of young players from Prijedor he has guided through the youth academy to a football career are BiH national team players: Siniša Saničanin, Ajdin Redžić, and Aleksandar Jovičić. He has gained experience as an assistant to numerous coaches, including: Velimir Stojnić, Vlado Čapljić, Boris Gavran, Gorazd Mihailov, Darko Nestorović, Zoran Bujić, Zlatko Jelisavac, Nedžad Žerić, Igor Krulj, Marko Tešić, and Vule Trivunović.
Source: RTRS
